Hello! I'm researching for a novel, and I'm having trouble finding any information about what kind of personal identification may have been required/accepted during the process of admission to the Marine Corps. I am from Canada, but I understand that there is no "universal" national ID card in the States. Would the ID requirements have been made on a state-by-state basis? What kind of papers might have been accepted? Specifically I am interested in what kind of "official" racial signifiers may have been present or required on paperwork, if any. In a segregated force, how was someone determined definitively by the recruiters to be either black or white, particularly if they were of mixed race? Any info would be helpful! Thanks! (I first posted this question in r/ww2 but haven't received any responses.)
Hi there - we're happy to approve your question related to your creative project, and we are happy for people to answer. However, we should warn you that many flairs have become reluctant to answer questions for aspiring novelists and the like, based on past experience: some people working on creative projects have a tendency to try to pump historians for trivia while ignoring the bigger points they were making, while others have a tendency to argue with historians when the historical reality does not line up with what's needed for a particular scene or characterization. Please respect the answers of people who have generously given you their time, even if it's not always what you want to hear.
Additionally, as amazing as our flair panel is, we should also point out that /r/AskHistorians is not a professional historical consultation service. If you're asking a question here because you need vital research for a future commercial product such as a historical novel, you may be better off engaging a historical consultant at a fair hourly rate to answer these questions for you. We don't know what the going rate for consultancy work would be in your locality, but it may be worth looking into that if you have in-depth or highly plot-reliant questions for this project. Some /r/AskHistorians flairs could be receptive to working as a consultant in this way. However, if you wish for a flair here to do this work for you, you will need to organize this with them yourselves.
For more general advice about doing research to inform a creative project, please check out our Monday Methods post on the subject.